Starting oven build before winter question

[joeykramer]

im in the North East, New Jersey to be exact and want to get started on the build (42" corner build) but i am worried about finishing in time for the winter. what are the drawbacks of starting now? i am concerned if i do not finish in time that whatever i have done will be affected by the winter. one option i was thinking was to get as far as i can and then cover it up with a tarp for the winter. I plan on using the ceramic fiber board as the base insulation and not vcrete.

what negative effects does water have on the board and also in mortar if not cured before winter?

should i wait until spring time to start or am i ok with starting it now and finishing later after the temps stop dipping below freezing? i have the walls and floating slab up already.

thanks
Joe

[DavidApp]

Hello Joeykramer

The board will soak up a lot of water and that will make the curing process take longer. So you should make plans to cover the build. This would need to be done now or in the spring as it is likely to rain in the spring.
Mortar should cure before it gets cold enough to freeze but that is not the same as the curing that has to happen when the oven is finished. The final curing is more to fully dry the oven.
Probable Ok to start now just watch the weather forecast before laying bricks. I had to keep a heat lamp in my oven some nights when we had freeze warnings.

David

[joeykramer]

Thanks. I don't expect to be working on it as temps start dropping but questioning what would happen to a half built oven over the winter.

Thanks for the reply

[Novaslo]

Build as much as you can and cover it with tarp. One thing to pay attention to is the slab requirements for areas that have cold weather. There is a frost line depth that should be considered. Build your slab right and get as far as you can. Cover what you are afraid of getting wet. If stuff get's wet, it will dry out while you are building the rest of the oven. I would think. But I don't know that to be true. Depends how far you get etc.

Good luck.

[JRPizza]

Joey, I used Insblok 19 and noticed it got quite soft when wet. After laying the floor and first few courses I started covering my oven and slab to keep all the rain off. I think I might get quite a bit of compression into the board if I let it get wet now.

[RandyJ]

If you get a good quality tarp you should have no problems I tarpped mine all spring through a lot of heavy rain storms, and had no water issues. So build away.

Randy